A Third Culture Foodie

Tag: Bloggers

Hello! I’m Jialing and I will be taking over Amcarmen’s Kitchen for today. I will confess that today’s blog was very close to being a two-step tutorial on how to boil a cup of water and make tea – the only semi-regular dietary part of my life that does not involve any animal by-products.

As someone who has clearly only ever eaten vegan food a handful of times (I genuinely thought that the vegan theme was intended as a joke when I first agreed to do a recipe), I found this year’s Auguest theme to be a punishment. I mean challenge. I ended up ransacking my own pantry and refrigerator for inspiration, confirming with Allison and Google about what ingredients could and couldn’t be used by vegans. What seems like day later, I emerged triumphant – pears, wine, cocoa powder, and a questionable bag of chia seeds (waste not, want not…) sat atop my counter, ready for the arduous vegan road ahead.

Now, onto the recipe, poetically inspired by the very essential act of boiling water.

PREP TIME min. 24 HOURS*| COOKING TIME 40 MINS| SERVES 4

*The chocolate chia mousse will need to be prepared the day before to allow chia seeds time to soak

Chocolate Chia Mousse: Prepare the chocolate chia mousse the day before, to allow chia seeds time to soak. Combine the cocoa powder, vanilla, and maple syrup, stirring until well mixed.

Slowly pour in almond milk, stirring until mixture is smooth. Add chia seeds and stir until well-incoporated. Leave in fridge to soak overnight, stirring mixture once in between.

Once the chia seeds have fully absorbed the liquid, they will increase significantly in size and have a gelatinous texture. Transfer to a blender or food processor and blitz until smooth and creamy. Tip: leave the chia mixture unblended and top with fresh fruit and desiccated coconut as a healthy and envy-worthy breakfast.

Poached Pears: In a sauce pot large and deep enough to hold pears, combine wine, maple syrup, cinnamon sticks, star anise, cloves, nutmeg, and just enough water to cover pears.

Bring the wine and spices to the boil over high heat.

Add the pears, positioning them so that they are completely submerged, and continue to boil for another 25 minutes, until pears are cooked through and tender. Be sure to turn pears for even cooking, particularly when liquid gets low, keeping in mind that the bottoms of the pears will take longer to cook than the tops.

Once pears are cooked, remove from the pot, reserving the syrup, and set aside to cool.

Carefully simmer remaining syrup until reduced to about 1/2 cup.

To serve, divide mousse into small bowls or stemless glasses and garnish with sliced strawberries. Place a pear on each plate, next to the mousse. Drizzle the pear with syrup. Enjoy!

Hi Foodies, it’s so exciting to be able to share a recipe with you via Amcarmen’s Kitchen and I want to say a big thank you to Allison for organising such a wonderful global blogging experience. Last year, I was able to cook and collaborate in the same kitchen with Allison, where were exchanged some delicious recipes. If you haven’t had the chance to read them, here are the links to my Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie and Cookies & Cream.

My friends call me a chilli fiend. I can’t help it, I am after all Indian. I just love the pungency and zing it adds to soups, curries and stews. I created this recipe on one of those cold winter Sydney evenings when feeling a little bit under the weather. It’s packed full of delicious super greens, fragrant herbs and spices that will help to reinvigorate your senses. Make a big batch and pack it for work the next mayor freeze in snap-lock bags for 1-2 months.

PREP TIME 30 MINS| COOKING TIME 30 MINS| SERVES 3-4

INGREDIENTS

For the green curry paste

1 large garlic clove, peeled

5cm piece of ginger, washed

2 spring onions

1 bunch coriander, washed, roots and stems scrubbed

1 bunch Thai basil, washed (optional)

2 tbsp cumin powder

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

2-3 small green chillies

For the soup

2 tbsp sunflower oil

1 cup firmly packed English Spinach, washed and finely chopped

1 broccoli, cut into florets, stem diced

1/2 cup coconut milk

Lime wedges

Extra coconut milk, to serve

METHOD

Roughly chop the garlic clove, ginger, spring onions, coriander leaves, root and stems, and Thai basil. Place these and the remaining ingredients into a blender along with a 1/4 cup water. Blitz to form a smooth paste. You may need to add some more water to help the mixture along.

Heat the sunflower oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the curry paste to the saucepan and cook, stirring occasionally until fragrant. Add the spinach and broccoli and season with salt and pepper to taste. Add 1L cold water and cook over medium-high heat for 10 minutes or until the broccoli stems are tender and the spinach is wilted. Allow to cool.

Purée the mixture using a stick blender, then return to the heat and add the coconut milk. Allow to heat through. Serve with lime wedges and a drizzle of coconut milk. This soup goes really well with turkish borek or spinach and ricotta triangles.

About BrendonI’m a food writer, blogger and passionate home cook living and working in Sydney. By day I work at one of the world’s fastest growing premium restaurant delivery services, and by night I cook, style and photograph recipes for my award-winning recipe blog. I really can’t stop smiling, believe me, I’ve tried and probably lasted 2 seconds. Sharing food, stories and recipes with family and friends makes me happy, which is exactly why I created “Smiling Chef”. I often try to include a selection colourful vegetables in my cooking, for both it’s nutritional benefits, and the fact that it makes such great #foodporn for Instagram. Get in touch if you need #instaworthy shots of your restaurant or cafe food for your website and social networks. I’m also keen singer and pianist and also love street and landscape photography – see more at @my_omd_and_me.

Hey there! My name is Miao, pronounced “Meow” and I am currently located in Singapore. I’ve known the lovely Allison for a good 12 years now, perhaps for even longer! We attended the same high school back in Brunei. A few years went by before we recently got in contact again, and this time we had more in common than ever before­ – the both of us had branched from loving food, to loving to cook food during our years of studying abroad. Our enthusiasm was shared over social media and it was agreed that we had to, had to, collaborate in hosting a dinner party the very next time we stood on common soil.

Dinner parties are great! They indulge our senses through so many different factors; from the atmospheric music playing in the background, the vibrant and dramatic display of what’s being served, to the tantalising aroma of something sizzling, something roasted, something seasoned in the air. In every way, a dinner party is an experience of art, as a guest you are inclined to explore the texture of your dish and savour the flavours, forming an opinion that’ll later be added to the table’s conversation. For people who love to cook, a dinner party is an exciting show to curate.

I’ve hosted a few dinner parties since the start of my time in Singapore, and every time it’s been the perfect way to rekindle old friendships, create new memories, and to sprout conversations between acquaintances. Well what’s a dinner party without its guests? Allison and I rounded up a few other pals from our high-school days along with a few foodies I’ve grown to love in Singapore.

One seat at the table was reserved for our vegan friend, adding a little variety to the collective diet. Accommodating to a vegan was completely new to me, the savoury vegan recipes weren’t all that hard to comprehend, but because I specialise in baking cakes, deciding what to create for dessert took a little more time for consideration. We made an array of dishes for the mains, including both vegan approved recipes and recipes with meat, while trying as much as possible to have everyone enjoy similar flavours. The dessert was to mark the finale of the show, and it only seemed appropriate to have everyone leave with the same experience and same lingering flavour in their mouth.

Well, after some time browsing through recipes online, I realised just how darn easy vegan desserts are to make! And they can still be just as rich and indulgent as desserts with animal products – like the vegan ‘cheesecake’ I’m about to introduce. Now I sit here still thinking how I wasn’t introduced to vegan desserts any earlier; they’re healthier, somewhat more refreshing and require less cleaning up. So without further ado, here is the perfect dessert recipe for your next dinner party with or without your vegan buddies.

PREP TIME 15-20 MINS| FREEZE TIME min. 12 HOURS| SERVES 8

INGREDIENTS

For the nutty crust

2 cups raw nuts

1/2 cup medjool dates

1/2 cup dried cranberries

Pinch of salt

For the orange ‘cheesecake’

3 cups cashews

3/4 cup fresh orange juice

Juice of one lemon

1/2 cup melted coconut oil

1/2 cup agave or maple syrup

Orange zest from all the juiced oranges

Pinch of salt

For the blueberry layer

2 cups frozen blueberries

1/4 cup of the orange ‘cheesecake’ mixture

METHOD

To make the crust: Process all ingredients for the crust in a food processor, until the nuts become crumbs and the mixture sticks together when you press it. Press into the bottom of an 8 inch spring-form pan to form the first layer of your cake. Leave in the fridge to chill.

To make the orange cheesecake layer: Excluding the orange zest, blend all other ingredients in your blender at high-speed until very smooth, then with a spoon add in the orange zest to taste. Take out 1/4 cup of the mixture for the blueberry layer, pour the remaining mixture onto the chilled crust and then leave it in the freezer.

To make the blueberry layer: Simply blend the blueberries and the 1/4 cup of cheesecake mixture with your food processor. Spread this evenly over your cheesecake and keep it in the freezer or fridge overnight. I prefer keeping it in the freezer as I live in a tropical climate and it only takes 15 minutes for the cake to soften for serving.

You can serve the cake with blueberries or sliced oranges for that additional wow factor.

A few months ago, I delved into the weird side of Youtube and somehow ended up watching a documentary about the cruelness of pig farming at three in the morning. From there, I watched a famous vegan Mukbang star, Mommy Tang, who talked about how she became vegan and how a plant-based diet has helped her lose weight, overall positively affecting her health. Intrigued by the idea of veganism, I watched more and more documentaries on the negative impact of animal farming on the environment and animal products on our health.

Mind-blown by the influx of information, I decided to cut down my consumption of animal byproducts overnight. Mind you, I was that girl who ate meat for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I LOVE MEAT. But, after educating myself on the many issues that come with consuming meat and other animal byproducts, I simply couldn’t live with myself if I continue eating meat mindlessly for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Could I let go of meat and dairy completely? No. Not right now. But maybe one day. However, currently I have drastically cut down my consumption of animal byproducts to the point where I eat a plant-based diet 6 days out of the week. I give myself one cheat day. Still, not bad for a girl who was pretty much a full-time carnivore.

I always encourage others to try and lessen their consumption of animal byproducts. You don’t have to give it up completely, but at least lessen. The secret of eating a plant-based diet without passing out halfway through the day is to fuel yourself with CARBS. This Quinoa Black Bean Taco recipe is the perfect filling and delicious vegan meal. Oh and it’s extremely high in protein 😉 Yes, you can find lots of protein in plants too, not just in meat! Hope you like it!

PREP TIME 15 MINS| COOKING TIME 10 MINS| SERVES 3-4

INGREDIENTS

2 cups Superlife Co. mixed quinoa, cooked

1 can black beans

1 cup frozen corn

1 cup spinach

3 garlic cloves

2 tomatoes

1 yellow bell pepper

1/2 brown onion

1 tbsp olive oil

Jalapeños

Taco Seasoning

Taco Shells

Optional

Cayenne pepper

Salt-free Mexican seasoning blend

METHOD

Dice the tomatoes, onion and bell pepper. Mince the garlic.

Add olive oil, garlic and onion into a heated pan. Sauté until the onions and garlic are nice and golden.

Add the bell peppers and frozen corn, and continue sautéing until the peppers are soft and the corn is defrosted.

Add the cooked quinoa into the pan, sprinkle in the taco seasoning and mix everything together.

Taste the quinoa/black bean mixture. If you would like additional spice and seasoning, add in the cayenne pepper and Mexican blend seasoning. Note: Taco seasoning is normally already pretty salty, so additional salt is not necessary.

Turn down the heat and add the tomatoes into the pan. Mix everything together.

ASSEMBLING THE TACO: Take a warm taco shell and line the bottom with some spinach leaves.

Hello Everyone! I can’t believe the months are creeping up so fast; in 4 months time it’ll be Christmas and then 2017! Before I dive into today’s post, I would just like to apologise to my followers and readers for not updating my blog last month. If I hadn’t already mentioned in my previous post from June, I’m currently and still in the Philippines and for the first part of my trip, Internet connection hasn’t been great – and well, kind of non-existent to be honest, and hence why I haven’t been able to update my blog for the month of July. I did however promise you guys content for August, and here it is!

August is now here and for those of you who don’t know, August is guest bloggers/foodies month on Amcarmen’s Kitchen, hence also known as Auguest. For those of you who are just tuning into my blog, last year I started this as a way to get in touch with other food bloggers/foodies as well as a great opportunity to network and produce some really cool content for our blogs/websites. Last year’s theme was based on preparing dishes from your roots. A few of my guests took traditional recipes and put their own twist to them while others took street food to another level. If you want to have a look at the recipes that were cooked up for Amcarmen’s Kitchen last year, click on the images below:

Also, if you want to read up on how this annual series of mine started, click here.

This year’s theme for Auguest is Yes Ve Gan! I thought of this theme back in March when I visited Singapore for about a week. I contacted a friend of mine from high school and asked if she wanted to cook together and host a small dinner party after our kitchen adventures. We invited a friend over who is a vegan and so our menu that night revolved around cooking food that was vegan. We made a spiced cauliflower soup for entrée, wholewheat spaghetti with a sage and butternut squash sauce, and finally, my friend made a blueberry and citrus no-bake vegan cheesecake which will be featured on Amcarmen’s Kitchen. It was a delicious was to end a vegan feast and I’m sure everyone will enjoy it as much as we all did that night.

Of course that’s not the entire reason why I decided to revolve the theme around vegan eats, but is also an effective way to educated those that by going vegan, it protects animals, the environment, and your health. I hope that I do not get bashed on my blog for saying this but not actually be a vegan or vegetarian myself – and I will say this now and openly admit that I do not see myself going vegetarian or vegan anytime soon. For now, I’ll just have to see where my food journey will take me. Next week we’ll be welcoming Diandra on Amcarmen’s Kitchen so stay tuned and make her feel welcome 🙂

Hello Everyone! Yes, I am aware that I said today I would get right back into Review Sundays since I did a post on the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award last week. However, since it’s August and I’ve got some exciting content for you guys this month, I thought I’d take this opportunity to explain what will happen on Amcarmen’s Kitchen for the upcoming month!

I came up with this idea about a month ago or so while I was in the shower – well actually, the idea already existed, but I used that as a base and put a food blogger twist to it. Before I get into it, I should probably make mention that I did not misspell August in the title of this post – and yes you read it right as ‘Auguest’ and here is why:

The idea is based on a famous YouTube celebrity known as Tyler Oakley. If you don’t already know him, you can look him up on YouTube, especially his ‘Auguest’ collaboration videos. In a nutshell, two years ago he started something known as ‘Auguest’ where for everyday (maybe just weekdays I can’t remember) in August, he uploads collaborations with other well-known YouTubers. So therefore, my idea for content this month will be based on the concept of collaborating with other foodie friends and/or food bloggers and have them guest blog on Amcarmen’s Kitchen for the month of August.

How this will work is that for example, today’s content on my blog would feature a post/recipe written by another blogger, while their post/recipe on their blog will be written by me. Then next week, another blogger will be featured on my blog, and so on. I thought that this would be a great way to get in touch with other food bloggers as well as a great opportunity to network and produce some really cool content for our blogs/websites. It didn’t quite work out as I hoped it would as I initially wanted to feature at least 12 different bloggers on my blog. It was actually quite difficult to find bloggers who were interested in taking part, and also it was a bit difficult for me to organise with so little time on my hands. I do hope to make this a yearly thing, so I hope that it will actually work out the way I had initially envisioned it!

I still have 4 foodies/bloggers that will be guest blogging on Amcarmen’s Kitchen for the rest of August. The theme of this year’s collaboration will be ‘Back to your Roots’ – cooking up dishes from your own cultural background and basically food that you love eating. In addition, I will still be writing reviews on Sunday’s from next week onwards – so don’t miss me too much! And I will still be writing, on the other blogger’s page so you can still head on over to their blog, when the post goes live to have a read 🙂

Cheers!

– Ally xx

I wanted to keep this to last because I didn’t want the beginning of the post to start of with a whole chunk of rant that has nothing to do with the actual post. Just think of this a bonus material on the life of Amcarmen’s Kitchen when not actually in the kitchen.

So, I just wanted to let you all know that I am back in Singapore (arrived just a few hours ago) and boy was it hectic! First off all, the baggage belts in the Sydney Airport this morning were all down for some reason – like actually across the WHOLE airport, which meant that baggages had to be manually transported from the check-in counters to the aircraft. I thought, okay maybe the flight might be delayed for a bit since they needed to do this. When I boarded the plane and was waiting for take off, they made an announcement that not ALL baggages were loaded into the aircraft that I was on because of that whole system being down and they didn’t want the flight to be delayed. They said that the baggages would be loaded onto the next flight out of Sydney to Singapore which was 3 hours behind the flight I was on.

When I got off the plane, I waited for about 10 minutes at the baggage belt after passing immigration, HOPING that my bags travelled with me. Ground staff then started approaching people saying that what was already on the belt were the bags that the aircraft was able to carry and that no new bags were being placed on the belt for collection. I could’ve sworn that I saw less than 50 bags on the belt. Terrible! And they were all priority bags for suites, first, and business class people. So after that I had to queue up at the lost and found with practically half of the other passengers who didn’t get their bags as well. Good thing I was able to beat a few people and was kind of sort of at least in the first quarter of the line, but I swear the line did not even move for like 20 minutes. Anyway, I got out of the airport 2 HOURS after my flight landed – I blame Sydney Airport for such unnecessary hassles.

Good thing I have extra clothes and underwear packed in my hand carry, and an extra $120 to compensate for the troubles. I overheard a lady saying that she had no clothes at all because they were all packed in her check-in baggages – and she leaves the next morning to another destination. I feel sorry for those who are in that situation and hope that they get their bags soon! And I hope I get mine tomorrow morning as well!

Hello Everyone! Today will be quite different as I will not be a Review Sunday on the blog. Basically over the weekday, I was nominated by Sarah Jane Gonzales from misscraftychef for the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award. Make sure that you go check her blog out for some fun food and travel posts!

The rules:

Thank the blogger who nominated you with a link back to their page

Put the award logo in your post

Answer the questions the blogger has sent you

Create 10 new questions for other bloggers to answer

Nominate 10 new people to participate

Questions for me:

What is your favourite childhood memory?I myself don’t remember this but my mom told me that when I was little, I would put all my toys in the fridge and that I would play with the onions instead. I would take the onions and roll them across the narrow hallway into the bedroom that was directly opposite from the kitchen. Apparently this was my idea of fun.

What is the biggest compliment you have ever gotten?“I’m going to help you review your cover letter and your portfolio, and make sure that it is the best because you deserve to be employed by the best.” This was probably the biggest and latest compliment that I got from my boss from my last internship; it’s nice to have someone believe in the work that you do.

What do you do first thing in the morning?Well if it’s the very first thing in the morning, that would be picking up and wearing my glasses. If I were to skip a few morning routines following that event, then it would be to make breakfast, or brunch depending on what time I get up in the morning.

List 5 things you are most proud of?

First of all, I am proud to finally be a graduate of a Bachelors Degree in Design (Graphic and Environment/Spatial Design) from the University of New South Wales

Secondly, I am actually quite proud of my cooking skills and how I’ve improved so much over the course of 4 and a half years. Basically, when I left home and started university, I barely even cooked, now I can pretty much tackle any recipe I want to

I am also very proud of my blog and how far it has come. There is definitely more room for it to grow, but I am proud that I have been able to keep up with my blog over the past year and a half

I may not look like it, but I am quite proud of my physical fitness. I may be curvy in some areas, but I can hike and go climbing for several hours. I think the best I’ve done to date is 18.69km in 5 and a half hours with an equivalent of 82 floors climbed.

Lastly, I am proud of the continuous support from my family and friends that surround me. They have encouraged me to follow my dreams and not let the jealously and negativity of others put me down.

What is the best thing about blogging?In all honesty, I started my blog out of pure procrastination because I did not want to do my uni assignment during that time over the Easter break. Now that blogging has grown out of a procrastination, and is more integrated into my daily routine, the best things about it is that I get to meet new people through my blog no matter where they are in the world. Even though we’ve only met in the virtual world, I hope that someday we can get in touch with each other and meet in person whenever we are on each others side of the world.

What music do you listen to when you blog if any?Sometimes I don’t listen to music when I blog, but when I do, I have a playlist of songs that I just play in the background throughout my day, whether in the shower, cooking in the kitchen, or just need to play music in the background when in a quiet room by myself. My playlist consists of music from various artists such as Fall Out Boy, George Ezra, Sam Smith, I Prevail, Breaking Benjamin, Milky Chance, and Hozier – I know, quite a range of genres.

What is the one thing you couldn’t live without?As cliché as this will sound, I don’t think I will be able to live without food. I mean, of course people can’t live without food, so I guess more like the idea of not being able to cook the food that I love. Yes, that’s probably what I couldn’t live without.

Is there anywhere you really want to visit?I am an outdoorsy kind of person, and I don’t mean the sight-seeing type, but more like getting in touch with nature, and hiking kind of girl. So places like the Grand Canyon, or even just National Parks in the NSW region or anywhere in the world would be my cup of tea. However, I would also like to visit South America, the Caribbean, and Europe, especially France, Greece, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland.

What would you like to achieve by the end of 2015?I would like to be employed before the end of 2015, more specifically a job that can integrate both graphic design and my love/passion for food. That would, ideally speaking, be my dream job.

Describe yourself in 3 wordsDesigner, Eater, Explorer.

My questions:

What does a perfect day look like to you?

What was your dream job growing up?

What is a skill that you would like to learn and why?

If you had to choose to live without one of your five senses, which one would you give up and why?